Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
August 22, 2018

The Richard Stoute Teen Talent competition resumed for the second week at Divi South Winds and no one could deny that Diandra Harris’ rendition of Adele’s Skyfall was not deserving of the top position.

Harris, who expertly delivered Lioness On The Rise and Skyfall, was overwhelmed and surprised when she was declared the winner of the second preliminary having amassed 672 points.

Princess Thomas should be pleased with her second place position as she dynamically performed Let It Go and You’re Not There to receive 653 points.

Nyanna Williams also captured the attention of the audience as she put her spin on classics I Don’t Wanna Be You Anymore and Can’t Help Falling In Love with her beautiful falsetto runs.

Also advancing to the semifinals of Richard Stoute Teen Talent were Casey Jemmott Boyce who sang Bring Back Respect and Save This Country; Suthany Hall who sang Make You Feel My Love and Friend of a Wounded Heart and Dimitri Hoyte who sang Thinking Out Loud and You Raise Me Up.

One standouts of the night was nine-year-old Akeem Salmon who gave an amazing rendition of Ben and Who’s Loving You. The only flaw of his performance was that he closed his eyes when he hit those astonishingly high notes.

Ronesha Alleyne is a future star. She expertly delivered The Climb, but it was her rendition of Rise Up that allowed the audience to truly see her vocal skills as she effortlessly hit the notes of the song.

Also noteworthy was Kiah Shurland who had a lot of sass as she performed Jar of Hearts and How Far I’ll Go.

The audience was also treated to a trip back in time compliments Lew Drayton from Draytons Two when he sang some of his popular spouge hits. The honorary singer of the night, Screw Face, thrilled the audience with his performance of the BananaRepublic and Tamarind Balls. Patrons took delight in singing along to the ‘sexy’ songs.

There is one aspect of the show which remains unclear and that is whether the junior competitors are being judged separately or with all other contestants. Many of them were in tears when they did not hear their names announced. (LG)